By: gfesadmin on November 8, 2012
I woke up this morning at 3:45 a.m. and knew that I would not fall back to sleep. This is not uncommon for me. Many have the same experience after passing age 60, I am 63. The upside is that I am awake when the house is very quiet and I can read and write…
By: gfesadmin on November 8, 2012
This weeks reading assignment was A Social History of The Media by Asa Briggs and Peter Burk. A major theme woven through the book connects media, control and influence. I think media’s purpose is to convey a message, therefore whoever controls the media controls the message. Briggs and Burke write that Queen Elizabeth “Spoke of…
By: gfesadmin on November 8, 2012
To Print or Not to Print As printing presses began churning out books and material during the Reformation, the Catholic Church was in a quandary, according to Briggs and Burke in A Social History of the Media. The conversation might have gone something like the following. “That pest Luther is turning the heads of our…
By: gfesadmin on November 8, 2012
This past January the family and I took in a day at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.. It was a dream come true for me as a father. For years now I have been telling Grace and Eli about all the amazing aircraft that are stored and preserved at the Smithsonian. …
By: Joy Mindo on November 1, 2012
The church has begun to adapt to the model created by business school. They hold strategy meetings; they have branding and rebranding sessions and are always looking at the bottom line. A pastor is therefore under pressure to produce results and also balance their private and public life. The example of a good pastor is…
By: gfesadmin on October 27, 2012
“Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 Most of us agree that there is a dearth of good leadership. And in an ever-changing global world, peoples’ social, intellectual, spiritual and emotional needs and responses are becoming increasingly complex,…
By: gfesadmin on October 27, 2012
In my leadership career, I have seen three new Executive Directors of Continuing Care Retirement Communities fail to win the right to lead and after six months to a year, they resigned, were terminated or decided to retired. I have seen two new Executive Directors almost lose their right to lead but they decided to…
By: gfesadmin on October 26, 2012
Nohria’s chapter on Identity-Based Leaders Development was to say the least, a thought provoking read. For one thing, it continually forced me to slow down and digest bits of poignant thought all along the way. However, another reason this chapter gripped me is because up to this point, we have discussed such topics as Society…
By: gfesadmin on October 26, 2012
While finishing dinner yesterday evening, our teenager began dialoguing with my wife and me about some new changes taking place at his high school. Test creators and state representatives have devised a plan that will change the school’s class schedule, tell teachers how to teach, shorten school days, and amp up state driven tests, all…
By: gfesadmin on October 26, 2012
As I listened to a variety of leaders speak at a conference this week I was inspired by a few ideas that will hopefully prove productive in your own leadership contexts. First I want to look at a couple of quotes from our text, Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
In my last post I already mentioned Nitin Nohria’s Handbook of Leadership – Theory and practice and how he structures his book into five main topics and 26 different essays. I tried to give an overview about the meta structure and link it to my ministry experiences. I already mentioned that Nohria collected different research…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
Recently I have met with most of the pastors in our city in a one to one conversation. Each person has a very distinct church culture. Each leader has a particular style and values to navigates his or her church. We all share the culture of our city. There in not one church nor leader…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
What is leadership? What does it take to lead? Who is an effective leader? What are the qualities and attributes of a leader? These are all great and pertinent questions? But there are no set answers. These questions are all understood in variety of ways in different contexts. One must not fail to understand that…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
Is the title a hyperbolic overstatement or a kind asessment. Actually, the church may be absent without leave: AWOL. As I read Nohria’s book and especially the chapter entitled “Pursuing Authentic Leadership Development” I wondered how the church was engaged in leadership development. The author of the chapter, Bruce J. Avolio, wrote that “we are…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
One ice-cube please The flight attendant had that tired smile on her face – the one that is forced after about eight hours on a packed plane. The Brussels Airliner was almost to Burundi and the last drinks were being served before landing. “I’ll take a Coke, please,” I requested. “Do you want ice?” she…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
Wes Anderson is one of the most interesting and innovative directors today. Through his seven films, Anderson has created a style and voice that is singular and unique. When you are watching an Anderson film, you know you are watching an Anderson film. As polarizing as his work can sometimes be, there is truly nothing…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
As a young boy growing up in Pennsylvania, life seemed simple. Living not to far from Gettysburg I remember climbing and playing hide and seek with my brother and sister at Devil’s Den, one of the most significant positions held during the battle of Gettysburg in The American Civil War. It all seemed surreal at…
By: gfesadmin on October 25, 2012
During my college years I believed leadership skills were something you were born with. They could be honed and tweaked, but you either had them or you didn’t. During my B.A. and M.Div., I went through several leadership classes and other experiences designed to bring out the leader that was supposedly already inside me. Most…
By: gfesadmin on October 22, 2012
Last week I had my second ordination anniversary. Since two years I am now the ordained senior pastor at St. Nicolai Church in Gifhorn, Germany. A Lutheran congregation with three churches and about 5000 members. (With my co-pastors. ht: waz-online.de) An anniversary is always a time for evaluation and a reflecting look back. Our weekly…
By: gfesadmin on October 20, 2012
“After seeing you in ministry and leadership it seems to me that women leaders are fairly well accepted in India”, remarked a friend of mine here in the U.S. There is some truth to that generalization. Like the West, the India too has dynamic women at the helm of leadership in politics, government, business, and…
